Deadly Nightshade
by ZeldaDragon
Summary: No one likes nighmares, but for some they're just too real to handle. "Let's promise that we won't allow anything to separate us, whether it be through life or...death."


**This was pretty short notice. I was bored in Algebra II (matrices...go figure), and this was born in my notebook. The title comes with inspiration from _The Nightmare Before Christmas_. Good movie.**

**_Major thanks to Plenilunio, who hit me over the head with my own mistakes and then shoved them down my throat. Repeatedly. She's the reason 'Shade turned out so good. I'd also like to give a shout-out to another: nuritacobarrubias. She pointed out the good and bad aspects of the earlier version. Thank you both!_**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. Nothing at all. Except my Trinity boots.**

A collective gasp throughout the cavern brings my attention to the far entrance. As Trinity steps into the temple, I can feel my heart skip a beat, feel my breath catch in my throat. She is guided to me by Dozer, both smiling widely and receiving respectful glances as they pass by the people they have served for so long. The short train of the dress she is wearing trails behind her, like spilled cream spreading ever so slowly across the stone floor.

The women in the crowd grin and turn to one another, taken by the pure beauty emanating from her. Taken by the way her pale skin glows, by the way the folds of the dress fit snugly to every curve of her lithe body, by the way her crystalline eyes sparkle in a way they've never seen, by the way her dark hair has been pulled and held back with dozens of ribbons with loose curls falling down to frame her flushed face. God, she's exquisite.

Our eyes meet and lock. Trinity smiles at me then, causing my heart to flutter with nervousness. She and Dozer have reached the end of their walk.

"Take care of her," he says to me as he places the hand that she had put on his elbow into mine. He presses a gentle kiss to her forehead and steps away, disappearing.

She grins again, almost shyly this time, and lets me pull her up the step and onto the small dais beside me. Our hands stay connected, fingers entwining. Together we turn to face our captain, who has gladly given us the honor of performing the ceremony. His face is kind, almost fatherly. As he places a hand on ours Trinity looks up at him, tears welling in her eyes and moistening her lower lashes.

Morpheus begins to talk. The words, pertaining to loyalty and honestly toward one another, go in one ear and out the other. I know what is being said; I've heard it before. All I could concentrate on was her. I was about to declare my love for her, Trinity, in front of a temple full of people here to see their savior unite himself with the woman no one else could touch. It must be like some sort of religious act for them, in a way.

I'm brought back to the present when I vaguely hear a question directed to me and my future wife. We both nod and voice our consent. Before I have time to prepare myself, the proclamations are over. I can't help but shake as a chill runs down my spine, quickly replaced with a radiating heat. It's over. We've done it. There's no going back now; we belong only to each other. She smiles at me, as though reading my thoughts.

Together we move closer, her arms going around my neck, mine around her waist, and press our lips together. I have never been happier in my entire life than I am now. Polite applause echoes around us. Oddly enough, I hear a distant sobbing. Pulling out of the warm embrace, I see that it's her. Trinity is crying.

At first I take them as tears of joy. But no. After studying her face I can see that they are tears of pain. Pain? I step away only to see that her chest is smeared with blood, a disgusting stain on her lovely dress. My eyes frantically run over her, looking for the wound. It's there, just below her left breast, below her heart.

I try to reach for her again but now my hands are met with empty air. She's gone! I turn around, panicked. I can hear the blood pounding in my ears. Blood...so much blood. Then she's there, the cream dress replaced with Matrix blacks. She's falling, falling from so high. No, oh no! Not again!

I desperately beg my subconscious to let me wake from this nightmare, to spare me the horror of seeing her die again. All I can do is watch helplessly as she plummets to what can only be an inevitable death. Trinity!

I jerk awake. My heart is pounding in my chest, my breathing rapid. I reach out and almost immediately feel her beside me. Her skin is deathly pale in the dim lighting. In a moment of panic I try to shake her awake.

"Trinity," I whisper, my hand on her shoulder. No response. "Trin," My hand moves to her neck of its' own accord, stupidly checking for a pulse I know will be there. She groans and slowly opens her eyes, turning her head to look at me.

"Hmm?" She sounds confused, probably wondering why I woke her form such a deep sleep. I let my fingers move to her cheek, brushing them gently over the soft skin. "You okay?" she asks, voice still thick with sleep.

I shake my head in the negative but back the gesture by saying, "It was just a dream."

Trinity turns so that she's facing me and raises an eyebrow. "Just a dream?"

I nod this time. "I'm thirsty," I say and to avoid further questioning, I slide from the bed. She purses her lips, letting her eyes follow me as I pick up an extra shirt to help stave off the cold. Without meeting her eyes, I leave the room.

I make my way to the mess hall, not knowing where else to go. Link is already there, just standing from the table to rinse a cup.

"Hey," I say quietly.

Link turns to me, a bit startled. "Hey," He returns to rinsing his cup. "Why are you up?"

I sit at the table, not bothering to get my own drink. "I can't sleep,"

The operator nods and after putting his cup back in the cabinet, leans against the counter to look at me. "I really need to be in the Core taking my shift, but you look like you need to talk. So talk."

I look at him, wondering if it's really that obvious. Not quite ready to share my dream with anyone just yet, I ask something else. "What kind of relationship did Dozer and Trinity have?"

"What do you mean?" He raises an eyebrow skeptically. Almost instantly I regret asking that.

"How-" I fumble with my words, not very comfortable with the conversation I had started. "How did they get along?"

"Well," He crosses his arms across his chest. "From what I've heard and the small amount I'd seen, Dozer treated Trinity like a sister. He told me once that he really worried about her sometimes." He shrugged slightly. "But you'd have to ask her. I wasn't really here to see anything. Why?"

"Just curious,"

Link nodded slowly, seeming to know that was only partly true.

"Link,"

We both jump at the sudden voice, neither of us having heard footsteps. I turn to the door. Trinity's standing there, one hand on her hip and looking a bit agitated. This can't be good.

"You should be in the Core." She glared at him, raising a menacing eyebrow.

"Yes, ma'am," He quickly slides out the door past her.

She watches his retreating back for a moment before turning her attention to me. "Why do you do that, Neo?" she asked, her authoritative voice gone to be replaced with the weary one of an annoyed woman.

"I don't know what you're talking about," I manage to say, knowing full well what she means.

"I thought you were thirsty." She hasn't moved from the doorway, now leaning against the frame with arms folded under her breasts. Her face is hard, irritated and dangerous.

"Oh," I look away, caught. "I, uh -"

"You are avoiding me." It's not a question. And it's true. The glare she had given Link is now fixed on me; I can feel it like a knife through the back.

When I turn to meet her eyes, all I can see is what she looked like in my dream - the first part of it, the happy part. Suddenly overcome with an intense fear of losing her, I stand and walk over, taking her into my arms and holding her tightly. I bury my face in her neck and take a deep breath, filling my lungs with her scent. She smells like lavender and mint and vanilla. And she smells of herself, that unique Trinity smell that is so comforting to me.

"I'm sorry," I whisper into her skin.

"Neo," She gently pushes me away from her just enough so she can see my eyes. "What's wrong?"

I don't want to answer her. I don't want to tell her that I've seen her death every night for the past two weeks. I can't. "I don't want to tell you," I close my eyes, not wanting to see the hurt in hers. "It was just a dream; I've forgotten most of it, anyway."

Trinity is silent for a moment. I risk opening my eyes. Her lips are slightly pursed, but her face is filled with compassion. She places her hand on my cheek, still a bit upset but trying her best not to let it show. "That's all you had to say."

She removes her hand and rests her head against my chest. "I don't want you to shut me out, Neo, please. You can talk to me...you know that, right?"

It was a rhetorical question, but I nod anyway. "I love you," I whisper into her hair.

Trinity smiles and moves her head a bit. "I love you, too," She reaches up and puts one hand behind my neck, drawing me down for a kiss. I oblige, meeting her mouth forcefully with my own. She tastes so good. I press my tongue against her lips, needing more. She parts them, needing me just as much as I need her.

She takes one of my hands and tugs at it. I see a flash of some emotion I'd never seen before, a raw power in the icy depths of her eyes. "Come on," she says huskily. I let her guide me back to our room. She opens the door. Once we're both inside, I reach behind her and push it closed, the dull clank echoing down the hall. Then I've pressed her against it, avoiding the wheel, and my mouth is back on hers.

I break my lips away, only to press them to the pale skin of her neck, her collar bone. Her hands are at the hem of my pullover, slowly inching it up so that her fingers can reach bare flesh. I mirror her move, sliding my own hands beneath her shirts and onto her smooth back. I'm kissing at every available inch of skin, needing to memorize the way she feels, the way she tastes. Her head falls back and I attack her neck again.

I can feel her nudging my shirt up, bunching it in her hands to reveal my stomach, my chest. Chill bumps rise over my skin. I lean back a bit as Trinity pulls the article of clothing over my head and hurls it to the other side of the room. She pulls my face back to hers and our mouths meet again.

My sight blurs as she removes her own overshirt, the thicker of the two, and drops it at our feet. Everything is moving much faster than it has before. Trinity seems just as on edge as me, just as needy...I'll have to ask her about that. Later. Much later.

Now her hands are trying to undo the knot in the drawstring of my pants. She's not making much progress, though, with her face pressed into my neck, alternating between kisses and bites, letting her tongue press against my pulse point. The tension in the air is thick. But just as she get the knot out, an alarm blares. We both jump and fall against each other.

Trinity, instantly recognizing the sound, pushes me back and yanks the door open. She's out of the room and down the hall in less than a second. I can hear her screaming at Link, demanding information. Sentinels. Three of them. Wonderful.

I blindly grab a shirt. As I try to pull it over my head, I realize that it's Trinity's. I throw it back down and look for mine. I can't find it. Two doors over, I hear Morpheus emerge and make his way to the cockpit. I forget about finding my shirt and grab a blanket from the bed. Wrapping it around my now freezing body, I follow the way the other two had gone.

By the time I get to the Core, Trinity and Morpheus had gone to the cockpit. Link is still sitting in the operator chair, hands gripping the tattered arms. The hovercraft has been shut down, eerie silence replacing the comforting hum of engines. I can hear my heart pounding.

I come to stand beside Link, desperately - selfishly - wishing Trinity was here to wrap her arms around me and offer comfort, to shelter me from the fear that can be felt in the air. Seconds turn into minutes, all passing uneventfully. The silence is deafening; I've never liked silence. After what seems a much longer time than it was, I hear the captain's voice floating softly from the cockpit, just loud enough to be heard.

"It's all clear."

Link and I both sigh in relief. He sags in the chair. The officers appear, both looking rather harried. Morpheus' shoulders were slightly slumped, from fatigue and the sudden panic. Being used to these alarms, he merely nodded to us and continued on to his room for the rest of his sleep. Trinity on the other hand looked pale, worn. She met my eyes briefly before looking over Link's shoulders at the monitors behind him.

"Continue with your shift," she told him steadily, "I'll be up to relieve you in two hours."

"Yes, ma'am," He nods, still in a bit of shock; this was only his second real threat of danger from the machines.

Trinity passes me as she left, this time not meeting my eyes. I was about to go after her, to demand to know what was wrong...because I _know _something is wrong. But Link starts talking. Being who I am, I stay to hear what he had to say.

"No matter how they try to prepare you, nothing ever amounts to actually experiencing it," he says, tugging at one of his braids. "Sometimes I hate this,"

"When don't you?" I ask, trying to aim for a bit of humor.

"When I feel I'm doing something useful." He looks up at me with wide eyes. They held no awe, no amazement, just respect...not for me being the One, but for me being me. Even though it wasn't by much, I had been doing this longer than him. I was almost used to the fear, the lack of warmth except from another body, the 'food', the lack of sleep.

"And," he adds with a smile, "when I see you and Trinity together."

All I can do is grin in return, ducking my head a bit to hide the slight rush of blood in my cheeks. What do you say to something like that?

"You two make me think of Zee." I saw another spark in his eye, one of love. "G'night," he said, leaning back in the chair again as he got comfortable.

"'Night,"

I leave the Core, pulling the blanket tight around me. Trinity, I think, Trinity. I come to a stop in front of our door. For some reason, I'm afraid to open it. Afraid to face her. I can't explain why. But there was something in her body language tonight...something different.

I take a deep breath and open the door as quietly as possible. I go inside and close it behind me. The sight I'm met with makes my heart constrict. Trinity is laying on my side of the bed, facing the wall. She has her pillow in her arms against her chest, curled around it as though she were cold. I remember that I have the blanket. Of course she's cold. She looks like she's asleep, her breathing even. I know she's not, though.

"Trinity," I sit on the edge of the bed, unwrapping myself from the blanket and tucking it around her slightly trembling form. I lay down behind her, now cold myself. I put an arm over her waist. "Trinity..."

I hear her sigh before she slowly turns over to face me. Her eyes are open, but they don't meet mine right away. When she finaly speaks, her voice is soft. "Do you remember that song... What was it called?" She thinks for a moment. "That's right, 'Unusual Way.' Do you remember it?"

It sounds familiar so I nod, not knowing what else I should do. What a strange topic for her to bring up.

"That's how I feel right now," she continues.

"What do you mean?" I watch her curiously, wondering where she's going with this. Not to mention the fact that though I may recognize the name, I have no recollection of the lyrics.

"You've only known me for a few months, and we're already sleeping together." I don't miss the way she said 'you've only known'. "I've never done that before. I've never been so open with anyone, never let anyone get close to me the way you have."

She takes my hand in hers, twining our fingers together. "But I'm afraid. Afraid that one day I'll wake up and you'll be gone. It's happened so many times...not always to me, but I've seen what it does to people, to the ones left behind."

She kisses my knuckles and leaves them against her lips. "If you were taken from me, I don't know what I'd do."

Now I know. She's afarid of the same thing I am. Well, an eye for an eye - so to speak. "In my dream..." She looks up at me now. "We were getting married," I can feel the heat rising in my cheeks for the second time. I must sound like an idiot. "And I was so happy. But then...you disappeared. You were gone, and I didn't know where you were. I knew, somehow, that you were never coming back." I stop there, willing the actual cause of her nightmare-demise out of existence...for the time being.

"Neo," Trinity raises her other hand to my face. "Let's promise each other something. Let's promise that we won't allow anything to separate us, whether it be through life or...death."

"I promise, Trinity." I pull her to me, holding her tightly against my chest and closing my eyes. I rest my head on hers as she scoots her upper body onto mine. "God, I promise."

_Unusual Way_

_Lyrics by Maury Yeston_

_In a very unusual way,_

_One time I needed you_

_In a very unusual way, _

_You were my friend._

_Maybe it lasted a day,_

_Maybe it lasted an hour,_

_But somehow it will never end._

_In a very unusual way, _

_I think I'm in love with you_

_In a very unusual way,_

_I want to cry._

_Something inside me goes weak,_

_Something inside me surrenders,_

_And you're the reason why_

_You're the reason why!_

_You don't know what you do to me,_

_You don't have a clue_

_You can't tell what it's like to be_

_Me looking at you_

_It scares me so that I can hardly speak._

_In a very unusual way, _

_I owe what I am to you_

_Though at times it appears I won't stay,_

_I never go._

_Special to me in my life_

_Since the first day that I met you_

_How could I ever forget you_

_Once you had touched my soul?_

_In a very unusual way,_

_You've made me whole._


End file.
